Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used his first trip to Asia to try to reassure allies that the United States was committed to deterring Chinese “threats” to the region, while also again defending his recent actions in disclosing American battle plans in a group chat.
Speaking at a news conference in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, on Friday, Mr. Hegseth said that the Trump administration would “truly prioritize and shift to this region of the world in a way that is unprecedented.”
“Today, it’s the Philippines. Tomorrow, it’s Japan. It will be Australia and South Korea and other nations in this part of the world,” he said, where, together, “we will establish the deterrence necessary to prevent war.”
The Philippines was the first stop of Mr. Hegseth’s tour of Asia, which will also include Japan; both countries have mutual defense treaties with the United States. But they and others in the region have been anxiously watching President Trump call into question the United States’ decades-old alliances in North America and Europe.
The Philippines has been involved in increasingly tense standoffs with China in the South China Sea over Beijing’s expansive territorial claims. Japan also has protested repeated Chinese incursions into waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
On Friday morning, Mr. Hegseth met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., telling him that “deterrence is necessary around the world, but specifically in this region, in your country, considering the threats from the communist Chinese.”
During the news briefing, Mr. Hegseth brought up unprompted the controversy around his role in sharing information about U.S. military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on the commercial messaging app Signal. He said it was not his job to determine where the U.S. Seventh Fleet goes in Asia but that he would defer to U.S. Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and “his war plans.”
“Real war plans,” Mr. Hegseth added, drawing chuckles. He said that Admiral Paparo would help create “strategic dilemmas for the Communist Chinese that would help them reconsider whether or not violence or action is something they want to undertake again.”
Mr. Hegseth was asked about whether he feels any responsibility for his role in the Signal controversy. He dodged the question, saying that he is proud of “that initial series of very effective and devastating strikes and the ongoing campaign that we are undertaking” against the Houthis.
Mr. Hegseth said the United States would conduct special operation forces training with the Philippines in the Batanes islands, which are about 120 miles south of Taiwan, a flashpoint between Washington and Beijing. He also added that the United States would deploy an anti-ship missile system and unmanned surface vehicles to the Philippines during the joint U.S.-Philippines military drills in April.
Mr. Marcos’s government is hoping to build on deepening ties that it forged during the Biden administration. The Philippines sees itself on the frontline of the territorial fight against Beijing in the South China Sea.
“I would like to categorically state that what is at stake in our unilateral and bilateral activities is not merely the security of either the United States or the Philippines,” Gilberto Teodoro, the Philippines defense secretary, said. “We are facing a common threat, which is the overreach of the Communist Party of China.”